The Martian Chronicles is not a unitary novel in the ordinary sense. It is composed of independent but related stories, some of which were written as standalone stories that Bradbury eventually wove together to create this novel. Despite its fragmentary nature, the stories in the book do hold together well as a coherent work of literature.
The novel is also something of a hybrid. Although it takes place on Mars and much of it describes human technology and the "sci-fi" powers of the native Martians, it is also--if not primarily--what Bradbury himself described as a "fantasy," or work of imagination. It is also a book about the effects that heedless humans have on civilizations and...
